I despise AIWB and also dislike IWB carry. I EDC all year around OWB with a pancake holster. I'm a smaller guy and wear medium-sized off the rack t-shirts, and I've never had any issues concealing. I primarily carried a S&W Shield 9mm and Shield 45, Kahr K9 and K40, S&W model 640 Pro, 3" 60-15, and 2.5" 686, and a Springfield Hellcat over the years this way.
.[/QUOTE
Its to bad you limited yourself to (off the rack t- shirts) as there quality can be lacking to some brands for fit and material weight . I have some that area well warn but close to 20 years old but I don't wear them away from our property any more .
Your 2.5" 686 is rather thick large handgun for a small guy unless clothing is loose fitting . The 2.5" 686 is longer , wider , taller and heavier than an alloy frame 4" or 4.5" 1911 like my lw commander too !
I buy pants that fit well with no iwb holster when I try on something new. I don't wear skinny jeans but do have dress pants and shirts , square bottom of course but use to tuck in some before I had emergence colostomy surgery some 10 years ago and my pistols are thinner than your revolvers so maybe thats why I can IWB carry them well .
Just don't assume you have all the answers covered as it takes time and luck in finding a good concealable way to carry then plenty of practice to be fast on the draw from any concealable carry . I also hate AIWB but many like them so options are there Like then or Not !!
I still have one pancake holster from wright leather works tried like but after a month of weekend practice , it stays in my little holster box . Did not conceal better for me .
Man you most have spent a ton of money if you tried all the holsters out there in all the positions ? . I used 3 holsters over 37 years and tried 3 others . 2 of the 3 were sold to others . Still have a wright pan cake but I never found it to be better for dra fore drills or conceal as well .
For a IWB if you treat the leather parts against your body like a good saddle and they stay clean soft and last . My set up is comfortable to wear and I still find my self doing elbow checks at some point during a day to be sure my holster and handgun are still there so comfort most be purdy good for me . I find no difference in draw and fire times so maybe you did not give your self enough practice time ? An older NJ le the lived above use after retirement but a P99 to CC and retired is P7 he owned but carried as a LE . Ittook him several months to find to get use to a iwb but he really likes it over owb . Hes about 5-8 and maybe 150lb .
Seems like I always had a 1911 for carry starting with that little lard butt colt acp officers model I sold and bought my first allow framed commander a couple years later . A hand surgery construction related 12 or 13 years ago I had to move away from my tp40 kahr that was my primary carry at the time and da triggers in general were harder to work the trigger as smoothly as I hoped . I still CC a lw commander just a newer series 70 model now or a couple m&p's with apex fst trigger kits added for carry and shor lite trigger pulls . I have one compact 4" 9mm with a dot optic and thumb safety I might need for carry one day if my 40's and 45 become an issue . Keep on keep'n on well armed . Just don't be some closed minded . It can take weeks to become good with any new .